Omani referees gear up to officiate AFC Champions League

Adil Al Balushi - Muscat, Sept 7 - Oman’s top international referee Ahmed al Kaaf began his first part of the technical warming up session last week at the Al Dhareez beach in Dhofar Governorate and under Khareef season. Oman’s other football international referees as well resumed their technical preparations for the upcoming Asian Football Confederation (AFC) participations as the Sultanate’s umpires will officiate at AFC champion league in the coming few days. Al Kaaf had completed the first part of the warming up session which started last week at Al Dhareez beach in Dhofar. The training session focused on raising the fitness level for the umpires as there were not any footballing events during the last six months due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. The other Sultanate international referees including Omar al Yaqoobi, Yaqoob AbdulBaqi, Abu Baker al Amri and Rashid al Ghaithi started their technical practice as well in Muscat on Sunday. The technical preparation programme was done under supervision of the referee’s fitness specialist Abdullah al Hilali. Omani international referees Ahmed al Kaaf, Abu Baker al Amri and Rashid al Ghaithi were selected to officiate in the 2020 AFC Champions League finals which will take place in Qatar from September 14 to October 3 while International referee Mahmood al Majrafi will officiate in the 2020 AFC Cup competitions for Group F matches. The group matches which will be held from September 23 until 29 in Vietnam will feature the following teams: Ho chi minh City FC (Vietnam), Houagang United FC (Singapore), Lao Toyota FC (Laos) and Yangon United (Myanmar). The Sultanate international referees Omar al Yaqoobi and Nasser Ambusaidi will officiate at the AFC Asian U-19 which is scheduled to take place in Uzbekistan during October 14 to 31. Oman’s referees will be among the other eleven main umpires and the same number as assistant referees. The national referees’ presence at the Asian footballing events had impressed everyone due to the top umpiring performance. AFC had nominated Omani umpires many times to officiate at the continental level. Al Kaaf had officiated more than 30 matches at AFC Champions League and 16 games at the AFC qualification for Fifa World Cup. Moreover, Al Kaaf was the main referee for the U-23 AFC final clash between Vietnam and Uzbekistan in China in 2018. The refereeing team also comprised Omanis Abu Baker al Amri, Rashid al Ghaithi and Omar al Yaqoubi as fourth official. Also, Oman’s experienced referees, Ahmed al Kaaf and Abu Baker al Amri, had received many awards from AFC as they officiated many finals of AFC competitions including AFC Champions League final and AFC Asian Championship final.